Job Cuts Averted At Kirtland Air Force Base

Last-minute funding has saved the jobs of dozens of civilian maintenance workers at Kirtland Air Force Base.

The Albuquerque Journal (http://bit.ly/11GpSju ) reports the jobs were on the chopping block because of across-the-board federal spending cuts.

A manager for the Chugach Management Services - which has a multimillion-dollar maintenance contract at the base - says the company was working under the assumption of reduced funding when "magically at the eleventh hour" base officials said they found money to reinstate the full contract.

Mike Cuddihee says the layoffs would have included "carpenters, electricians, engineers, painters, you name it."

A base spokeswoman says it received "some funding that was spread across the base maintenance contract, custodial contract, and solid waste contract."